{"id":1135,"date":"2010-05-15T09:04:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-15T09:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/the-priesthood-of-all-believers\/"},"modified":"2010-05-15T09:04:00","modified_gmt":"2010-05-15T09:04:00","slug":"the-priesthood-of-all-believers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/the-priesthood-of-all-believers.html","title":{"rendered":"The Priesthood of All Believers?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A commenter on an earlier post recommended that I check out what the First Epistle says about \u2018the priesthood of all believers\u2019. I assume he is referring to this passage of Sacred Scripture:<\/p>\n

As you come to him\u2026you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christyou are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.<\/i><\/p>\n


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The typical Protestant understanding of this passage is used to dismiss the idea of a sacramental priesthood in favor of a congregationalist, egalitarian interpretation. Basically, \u201cthere is no such thing as a priest because this passage says the people of God are a \u2018holy priesthood.\u2019 This is called \u2018the priesthood of all believers.\u2019 In that respect it is used as an exclusive and negative tool. It endorses the priesthood of all believers, but the real motive is to destroy the sacramental priesthood.<\/span><\/i>\n

However, while the passage teaches that we are a \u2018royal priesthood\u2019 the idea is of the whole people of God. We are a holy nation. Therefore St Peter is referring to the holy and priestly function of the whole church. As the Body of Christ in the world we are a holy priesthood. We make sacrifices, we intercede and minister to the whole world. <\/p>\n

What I love about the Catholic Church is that it is \u2018More Christianity\u2019. We don\u2019t deny that the whole people of God exercise a priestly function in the world, furthermore, we also teach \u00a0that each of the baptized are also called to live lives of sacrificial \u2018priesthood\u2019. In this respect we fully endorse the idea of the \u2018priesthood of all believers\u2019. However, we do not therefore take the negative step and deny the need for a special, ministry of ordained \u2018shepherds\u2019 or \u2018elders\u2019 (what the NT calls presbyters\u2013and from which we get our English word \u2018priest\u2019)<\/p><\/div>\n

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In fact, the very epistle from which this passage is taken offers evidence of the existence of a special, ordained ministry. In the first four verses of chapter 5, Peter gives instructions to his \u2018fellow elders\u2019 and \u2018shepherds of the flock\u2019. He calls them overseers\u2013the word used in the early church for bishops. Taken with the rest of the New Testament evidence and the evidence of the early church writings we can safely conclude that St Peter understood, endorsed and encouraged the ordained ministry that we today call the priesthood.<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A commenter on an earlier post recommended that I check out what the First Epistle says about \u2018the priesthood of all believers\u2019. I assume he is referring to this passage of Sacred Scripture: As you come to him\u2026you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Priesthood of All Believers?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A commenter on an earlier post recommended that I check out what the First Epistle says about 'the priesthood of all believers'. 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